Legislator: FPI has the military backing

National Wed, 06/30/2010 9:23 AM

Legislator: FPI has the military backing

Hans David Tampubolon and Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

The police are reluctant to get tough with the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) group because of its ties to the Indonesian Military (TNI), a legislator says.

“There is information saying the FPI is a pet of the TNI, and the police hesitate to deal face-to-face with the military, because police consider the armed forces their elder brother,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician.

She added the FPI was originally established to accommodate the interests of hard-line Muslim groups that had suffered from oppression by the government during the New Order era.

“The organization is now part of the conflict management strategy the TNI exercises to maintain its power. The FPI serves as a stepping stone for the military to re-enter politics,” she said.

It was a blatant accusation of the military’s role in supporting the FPI, which is known for anti-vice raids executed under the pretext of enforcing of Islamic law. Most recently, FPI members raided and dissolved a discussion on a health bill in the East Java town of Banyuwangi last Thursday between PDI-P members of the House of Representatives’ Commission IX on people’s welfare.

Commission head Ribka Tjiptaning, also from the PDI-P, filed a report with National Police against the FPI on Monday and demanded the group’s dissolution and a probe of the Banyuwangi police chief’s decision to allow hard-liners to break up the event.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. I Wayan Midhio said Tuesday that the accusation was groundless and denied a link between the TNI and the FPI.

“TNI does not have a pet. TNI is a group of professional soldiers who obey the law. Since the reform era, TNI has focused on professionalism,” he said.

On Monday, a caucus consisting House legislators from various parties said that the government, TNI and Home Affairs Ministry were responsible for the birth of the FPI and demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to exercise his authority and dissolve the group.

Eva said government favoritism of the FPI was evident in a lack of follow-up actions against the group, despite its acts of violence.

“In 2008, [Yudhoyono] looked as if he had enough of the FPI and called for a coordination meeting between several institutions, such as the TNI, police, and Home Affairs Ministry. However, the meeting failed to generate a significant outcome,” Eva said. Yudhoyono’s decision came in response to an attack by members of FPI and other hard-line Muslim groups on freedom of religion supporters who rallied in defense of Ahmadiyah followers at the National Monument in Central Jakarta on June 1, 2008, she added.

“After the meeting, the Home Ministry said the FPI could not be dissolved because it had never been listed with the ministry. However, I found out the FPI was indeed on the list. This means the ministry also has blood on their hands,” she added.

Eva said the FPI was registered under Home Ministry Decree No. 69/ D111.3/VIII/2006.

Home Ministry spokesman Saut Situmorang said that the FPI had been listed as a mass organization and that there were procedures that must be followed to dissolve an organization.

“We need to secure the Supreme Court’s approval to disband a mass organization,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Tuesday the police do not have the authority to dissolve a mass organization such as the FPI.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/30/legislator-fpi-has-military-backing.html

FPI must be banned: House legislators

Headlines Mon, 06/28/2010 11:37 AM

FPI must be banned: House legislators

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

Islamic Defender Front: (JP)

A multi-party coalition of legislators in the House of Representatives legislators demanded that the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) be officially declared a forbidden organization, said a coalition representative.

“We are not concerned about their mission. We concerned about the way implement their goals,” said Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle legislator Eva Kusuma Sundari at a press conference at the House on Monday.

The FPI has been implicated in “too many” violent incidents and there is more than enough evidence for police to bring criminal charges against the group, she said.

“The police must follow up reports on the FPI so that the courts will have a firm basis to determine that the organization should be forbidden,” she said.

Eva also urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to use his authority to take firm action against the FPI.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/30/legislator-fpi-has-military-backing.html

Indonesia under fire for upholding scripture over rights

---Yahoo News (via AFP)

Indonesia under fire for upholding scripture over rights
by Stephen Coates Stephen Coates – Tue Apr 20, 2:16 am ET

JAKARTA (AFP) – Human rights groups pilloried Indonesia’s constitutional court Tuesday after it upheld a 1965 blasphemy law, ruling in favour of orthodox religions over basic freedoms.

The court on Monday rejected a petition by moderate Muslims, religious minorities, democracy advocates and rights groups against the law, in a case seen as a major test of the mainly Muslim country’s pluralism.

By a margin of eight to one, the judges ruled that the law was imperfect but did not contravene the constitution of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, which guarantees freedoms of belief and expression.

The law carries a maximum punishment of five years for beliefs that deviate from the orthodox versions of six sanctioned faiths: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a non-partisan body that advises the US government, said the ruling may embolden religious extremists and foster sectarian strife.

“Hopefully, the Indonesian government will recognise that overturning the blasphemy decree advances its fight against terrorism and extremism, and enhances its reputation for religious tolerance and pluralism,” commission chairman Leonard Leo said.

The law – which effectively outlaws blasphemy as well as heresy – was used in 2008 to force followers of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect to go underground and is often cited by minorities as a source of discrimination and intimidation.

Islamic extremists packed the court throughout the hearings, heckled witnesses for the petitioners and allegedly assaulted their lawyers on the last day. They greeted the ruling with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).

About 500 police were deployed around the court due to concerns that a ruling against the law would trigger violence by militants from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a vigilante group.

Several of the judges said they agreed with the testimony of Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali and Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar that the law was needed to protect minorities from violence.

FPI official Sobri Lubis also claimed the law was vital to maintain religious harmony in the vast archipelago of 234 million people, 90 percent of whom are Muslims.

“We’re very happy with the verdict… This will bring peace of mind to the people,” he said.

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) however said the ruling “dealt a severe blow to religious freedom” in the world’s third-largest democracy, which President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit in June.

“Indonesia?s laws should protect those who peacefully express religious views and punish those who threaten to use violence against others, not the other way around,” HRW deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said.

“If the government wants to prevent violence, it should send a message by punishing violent behaviour.”

US expert Professor Cole Durham, who testified via videolink on behalf of the petitioners, said the decision “represents a missed opportunity” to reconcile the law with Indonesia’s international treaty obligations on human rights and bring the country into line with the trend in other democratic countries.

“This legislation empowers those in dominant religions to persecute and discriminate against those holding divergent views, and this in turn will exacerbate religious tensions in society,” he told AFP.

Moderate Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdallah said the court did not seem to understand the constitution.

“Our constitution clearly guarantees freedom of expression. The law will become a time bomb in the future as it will muzzle minority groups that are different from the six mainstream religions,” he said.

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100...sphemylaw

Indonesia court upholds blasphemy law

---Yahoo News (via AP)

Indonesia court upholds blasphemy law
By CHRIS BLAKE, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 20, 12:19 am ET

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A decision by Indonesia’s constitutional court to uphold a controversial blasphemy law has dealt a severe blow to religious freedom in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, a rights group said Tuesday.

The court ruled Monday that the 1965 law, which allows for criminal penalties and bans on people or groups that “distort” the central tenets of six officially recognized religions, was in line with the constitution and was vital to religious harmony.

The law was challenged by a coalition of rights groups and civil society organizations who consider it discriminatory. But it is supported by religious conservatives, including the radical Islamic Defenders Front, which had gathered at the court and threatened to protest if the judges didn’t uphold it.

Although the law recognizes six official religions in the country — the standard forms of Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism — rights activists say it discriminates against minority religions, including Muslims whose beliefs differ from the mainstream.

The vast majority of Indonesia’s 235 million people are moderate Sunni Muslims.

Opponents say the law, which carries penalties of up to 5 years in jail, should be struck down because it limits religious freedom — which is constitutionally protected in this secular country.

The court rejected those concerns in its 8-1 decision. The majority said the law was in place to protect all religions from desecration and to ensure religious harmony between faiths. They said the law did not bar other religions such as Judaism from being practiced, but simply protected those covered by the law.

“The law should be upheld because if it is annulled … Islam and the Quran could be interpreted at will and people and figures could declare new prophets and establish new religions,” Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali said ahead of the ruling.

Critics say the law is vague, allowing authorities to interpret and enforce it how they choose. It has largely been used against those seen as offending mainstream Islam.

They also say hard-line Islamic groups have used the law as justification for violent attacks on minority religious groups.

The government has used the blasphemy law in the past to outlaw religious groups, including Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect banned in 2008 whose members identify themselves as Muslims but don’t believe in the core tenet of Islam that Muhammad is the last prophet.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Tuesday that the court decision “poses a real threat to the beliefs of Indonesia’s religious minorities.”

“The blasphemy law criminalizes the peaceful expression of certain religious beliefs,” she added.

The dissenting judge called the law weak, saying it could be interpreted in multiple ways that lead to discrimination. The judge said the law was written during a revolutionary era when Indonesia’s authoritarian rulers were worried about social unrest and that the law wasn’t needed in modern Indonesia.

“The judges closed their eyes and hearts,” said Chairul Annam, one of the lawyers arguing for the law’s repeal. “We are very sorry that discrimination suffered by minorities in this country was not recognized by the court.”

___
Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100420/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_blasphemy

Indonesian court upholds blasphemy law

---MSN News, Malaysia

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 4/19/2010
 
Indonesian court upholds blasphemy law

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Monday rejected a petition by moderate Muslims, minorities and rights groups against a 1965 blasphemy law, in a ruling seen as a test of the country’s pluralism.

The court ruled that the law was imperfect but did not contravene the constitution of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

“The application has been rejected entirely as the reasons given by the applicants… have no legal basis and are completely unfounded,” chief judge Mahfud MD told the court.

“It’s not contrary to the basic articles in the constitution but it needs to be made clearer.”

The law makes it illegal to “publicise, recommend or organise public support” for any religion other than or different to the orthodox versions of six sanctioned faiths: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism.

It was used in 2008 to force followers of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect to go underground and is regularly cited by minority groups as a source of discrimination and intimidation.

Rights groups and civil society organisations that value the country’s secular traditions say it forces people to adhere to government-sanctioned faiths and limits religious freedom.

About 500 police were deployed around the court due to concerns about violence by Islamist extremists should the judges rule in favour of the petition.

Militants from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a vigilante group, had jeered witnesses for the petitioners during the hearings and clashed with their lawyers on the last day, leading to complaints of intimidation.

One of the witnesses, US legal expert Professor Cole Durham, told the court by videolink that “except in most repressive regimes, apostasy and heresy fall under religious, not civil, jurisdiction”.

Speaking on behalf of the petitioners, Setara Institute chairman Hendardi told AFP the court’s decision was disappointing but expected.

“The existence of this law will continue to snatch away the rights of the people to embrace any religion they believe in and to practise it freely,” he said.

FPI secretary-general Sobri Lubis applauded the court’s decision and said the law was needed to maintain religious harmony in the vast archipelago of 234 million people, 90 percent of whom are Muslims.

“We’re very happy with the verdict. This shows the commitment from the government and the religious groups to maintain the religious purity of the recognised faiths in Indonesia including Islam,” he said.

“This will bring peace of mind to the people.”

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali and Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar publicly opposed the petition.

Ali warned that the law was needed to maintain social harmony and prevent an explosion of “new religions”.

URL: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4038366

Court beefs up security ahead of ruling

---The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Headlines | Mon, 04/19/2010 9:28 AM

Court beefs up security ahead of ruling
Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To prepare for possible clashes when it announces its verdict on a judicial review petition on the Blasphemy Law, the Constitutional Court is beefing up security at the building.

The court’s general bureau chief, Noor Sidharta, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that he had requested Jakarta Police deploy 500 officers to guard the court building complex this afternoon when judges will read out their much-awaited verdict.

Previous hearings of the controversial judicial review request of the law were guarded by 300 officers.

“We learned from [the incident] the other day. Now we are preparing twice the usual number of police officers,” Noor said, referring to an altercation during recess at the last hearing between followers of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and several members of a team of lawyers for the petitioners.

Officials fear violence could break out, especially in the wake of last week’s deadly brawl in Koja, North Jakarta, where the FPI and other organizations joined hundreds of local residents in street battles with security officers over an Islamic shrine.

FPI supporters also attacked activists from the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion who had gathered at Monas Park in the middle of 2008.

The activists were conducting a peace rally supporting religious pluralism. A court found an FPI leader guilty of the violence and sentenced him to 18 months in prison.

Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra warned of a repeat of the attacks by hard-line groups.“Those involved in any demonstrations should refrain from breaking the law,” he said.

He also called on the police to be extra vigilant.

“Those [hard-line] organizations have leaders. The police have to grow a pair and take action against them if they get violent. Don’t let them walk away without being held responsible for their deeds. If police let them off the hook, they will keep doing it,” he told the Post.

He criticized the fact that members of Muslim organizations were too easily mobilized in the name of Islam.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Muslim organization, is among those who have voiced concern over possible violence if the court rules in favor of the petitioners and repeals the 45-year-old law.

“Violence should not be a means to force one’s viewpoint on others. Everyone has to view the ruling with an open mind, regardless of the ruling,” Masdar Farid Mas’udi, a member of NU’s lawmaking body, said.

Indonesians, Masdar added, trusted the court to solve the legal dispute, so “we must respect its decisions”. Islamic organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) said it would not stage a rally ahead of Monday’s ruling, although it would object to a ruling in favor of the petitioners.

“We understand the [court’s] decision will be based on facts presented in the hearings,” HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto said.

URL: http://beta.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/19/...head-ruling.html